Confessions of a City Slicker

I was going to try the Laotian Laksa at The No Eye Deer during Steph’s birthday but as fate would have it, I had a fever on that day.  So I had to curb my craving for a couple of weeks at least until I make a full recovery.

Laksa, after all, is something one can only enjoy when both the olfactory senses and taste buds work together in perfect harmony to fully indulge in the different aromas and subtle layers of flavor in the soup.

Ai caramba, mama mia, niama leh, just thinking about it makes me drool already.

My Grandma used to make this really delicious laksa but too bad, when she passed away, she kinda took the recipe with her.

Making laksa is a lot of work and it’s not exactly something that you can make for just 1 or 2 persons.  If you want to make laksa, you’d better be prepared to feed a large group.

I remember, during my childhood days, Grandma would make laksa every time Grandpa comes back from one of his fishing trips.

I used to beg him to take me with him, but now that I know better, I wonder why.  Fishing is so boring.  Hehehehe, no offense to all my fisherman friends out there.

But seriously, what can be so fascinating about going out to sea or the river at the crack of dawn or middle of the night, depending on which group you are from, to be toasted by the sun or become mosquito food?  Then what do you talk about or do on the sampan while waiting for the fish to bite?  I know some are very pantang about making any kind of noise in case you scare away the fish :p

Ok, ok, I can start to hear the fishermen starting to riot and getting ready to throw shoes, eggs, rotten vegetables and what have yous at me, but hey, I’m entitled to my opinion :p

Anyway, the laksa from No Eye Deer is suppose to contain beef, which is the first time I’ve heard of for laksa.

From what I remember about the preparations from my childhood days, it includes cooking the fish then peeling them.  Me, being the tham chiak kid that I was, will be sneaking a bite or two of the peeled fish.

Then there are the aliens (vegetables to the rest of the world) which include cucumber, lemon grass, pineapple, mint leaves, bunga kantan and something else I don’t eat.

Nowadays, there are only a few places with acceptable laksa.  One of them is the stall at the Balik Pulau market.  There is another quite good one in Balik Pulau’s Sungai Pinang area.  Of course eating there is a once a year affair for me when I do get invited to Balik Pulau during Hari Raya.

That is because although I have lived on my tiny island all my life, I haven’t the faintest idea how to get to Balik Pulau on my own (blush).

Other than that it will be at the Ayer Itam market (although I heard that one has deteriorated in quality) and another stall in a kopitiam in Gottlieb Road.

I like my laksa with lots of heh koh even though I’m allergic to prawns and it makes my tongue and the area around my mouth itch.

What about you?

There have been no updates on my diet for some time because Coach is in Jordan visiting her parents.  I had a follow up session with one of the other supervisors and found great results!

I’ve lost a total of 2.5 kg and 44 cm in 4 months!

Well, based on my figure as it is right now, I can in fact, stop the weight loss part of the diet and move on to weight maintenance.  I just need to add their protein to the shake to help build more muscle mass and tone up the sagging areas.  This will definitely help with the residual fatty areas on the tummy that is an eye sore for me.

But, I think I would like to lose a little more, after all, it’s better to have a margin of safety, no?

My skin has improved so much now that I think I can stop going for those expensive facials.  Maybe I’ll just go for a pampering session, but other than that, I can definitely save on the facials.

I’ve started to use their outer care products.  So far I’ve started on their eye gel which I keep in the fridge so it’s nice and cooling on application.  The texture is finer than the regular eye gels that I’ve used before that leaves a residue around my eye area, not unlike when I have just been crying.

Also just started on their day cream which I absolutely lurrrrrrve!  It has a velvety finish and is not greasy or sticky.  The day cream also comes with SPF 15.  I still use my other sun block.  Hey, I bought the thing for over RM200.00, so it will be a waste if I don’t finish it.

I can’t wait to add on other products.

Hongkie Kopitiam at eGate - lousy food despite its variety, bad service and the price is definitely not worth paying.

But I still keep going back because for one, it’s more affordable than the other places here and secondly, the other places were either too expensive or sucked even more.

Still feeling sick today and didn’t feel like taking the short walk from the office to my car under the sweltering afternoon sun to go home for lunch.  So I opted to go to Hongkie instead.

After looking through the menu, I finally settled for a dish called "Downing Street".  It’s fried fragrant rice with beef and topped with mozarella cheese.  The whole thing is then baked.

The result, well, they have this sauce that tastes suspiciously like kurma.  There was not enough cheese and the beef was so tough, it felt like leather.

Was glad that I had the good sense to ask for a big plate instead of attempting to eat out of the tiny bowl that the dish came in.  Trying to cut the pieces of beef into bite size pieces would pose a challenge indeed.

Needless to say, I didn’t finish the whole thing.

The last time I was there, because I had a sore throat, I ordered their nissin noodles which is very bland and with the ingredients which consists of a piece of ham, a sausage and fried egg, it was definitely not worth the price they were charging.

After lunch today, I took a detour to Guardian pharmacy to buy a roll of dental floss for the beef that got stuck between my teeth.

It’s funny how I always think of going to Hongkie when I’m sick.  I guess during those times, I can’t tell the difference good food and bland hospital food.